Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-08-06
nnder The bcnediction and perpetual
presence of Il Christian minister.
TIE AWAKENING SERMON.

''f'' Wv tbAs Rt. Dtldtt
presence of Il Christian minister.
III AWAKENING SERMON.
Bat remark again. the religious dis
course Of the future will be an awaken
ing ermon From altar rail to the
front door step under that sermon an
audience will get up and start for
heaven. There will be in it many a
staccato passage. 1t will not be a lnl-
ABLY; 1t will be "A battle charge. Mn
will drop their sins, for they will feel
the hot breath OF pursuing retribution
on the back of their necks. 1t will BE-
sympathetic with all the physical dis
tresses as we'll rs the spiritual dis.
tre5scs Of the world. Christ not only
preached but He healed paralysis and
He healed epilepsy, and He healed the
dumb and the blind and ten lepers.
That religious discourse Of the future
will be an everyday sermon, going
right down into every mans life, and
ii will teach him how to vote, how 10
bargain, how to plough, how to do any
work he is called TO-, how to WELD
trowel and pen and pencil and yard
stick and plane. And it will teach
one how TO preside over their house
holds, and how to educate their
children. and how 10 initiate Miriam
and Esther and Vashtl and Eunice, the
mother of Timothy, and Mary, the
mother of Christ; and those women
who on northern and southern battle
fields were mistaken by the wounded
for angels Of mercy fresh from the
throne Of God.
The PRINTING PRESS.
Yes, | nave to tell you the religious
discourse Of the future will be II re-
ported sermon. IT YOU have any idea
printing was invented simply to print
secular books, and ~stenoLraphv and
photography were c, n'rIved merely to
set forth secular ideas, You are mis-
taken. Tbs printing press is - he the
great agency of gospel prociami tlon.
1t is high time that FOOD mcn Instead
of dcnonncibg the pless, employ it to
scatter forth the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The vast majority ct people in our
cities do not come to church, and moth
ing but the printed sermon can reach
them and call them to pardon, and
life, and peace, and heaven.
SO | cannot understand the nervous
ness Of some of my brethren of the
ministry. When they see a newspaper
man coming in they say: ALIAS, there
is a reporter" Every added reporter
is ten thousand, fifty thousand, IA hun
Il .Al thn,uat MI p,n,Artnl ga,,l, nIInl e.,
the auditory. The time will come when
all the village, town and city news
pap rs will reproduce the gospel of
Jesus Christ, and sermons preached on
the Sabbath will reverberate all around
the world, and, some by type, ana
some by voice, all nations will De evan
gelized.
The practical bearing of this is upon
those who are engaged in
CHRISTIAN WORK,
not only upon theological students and
young ministers, but upon all who
preach the gospel, and all who exhort
in meetings, and that is all Of you, if
you are doing your duty. Do you ex-
hort IN prayer-meeting! Be short and
be spirited. Do you teach in Bible
CLASP Though you have to study every
night, be interesting. Do you accost
people on the subject of religion in
their homes or in public places? Study
adrOitness and use common sense. The
most graceful and most beautiful thing
on earth is the religion of Jesus Christ,
and if you ~awkwardly present it, it is
defamation. We must do our work
rapidly and we must do II effectively.
Soon u time for work will be gone.
A dying Christian took out his watch
and gave it to II friend and said:
Take that watch. | have no more use
for it; time is ended for me and eterni-
ty begins" ooh. my friends. when
our watch has licked away for Us the
moment, and our clock has struck for
us the last hour, may it be found we
did our work well, that we did il IN the
very best way, and whether we
preached the Gospel in pulpits or
taught Sabbath classes, or admins
tered to the sick as physicians, or bar
gained as mel chants, or plead the law
as attorneys, or were busy as artisans,
or as hu~sbandmen, or as mechanics, or
were like Martha called to give IA meal
to a hungry Christ, or like Hannah to
make acoat for a prophet, or like De-
borah to rouse the courage OF some
timid Darak in TIE Lords conflict. we
did our work in such Il way that It will
stand
TIE TEST OF THE JUDGMENT.
And IN the long procession of the re-
deemed that march around the throne,
may it be found there are many there
brought to God through our instrument
tally and III whose rescue we are ex-
ultant.
But, . YOU unsaved, wait not forthat
religious discourse Of TIE future. II
may come after your obsequies. 1t
may come after the stone cutter has
cbi'eled our name on the slab, Fifty
years before. DO not wait for n great
steamer of the Cunard or White Star
line 10 take You off the wreck, but hail
the first craft with however low "A mast
and however small a hulk, and how
ever poor IL rudder, and however weak
n captain. Better II disabled schooner
that ONE up in time than a full
rugged brig that comes up after you